Notes. Prediction of the Linear Viscoelastic Shear Modulus of an Entangled Polybutadiene Melt from Simulation and Theory (1) 3π 2 k B T D(T)N (2)

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1 134 Macromolecules 2001, 34, Notes Prediction of the Linear Viscoelastic Shear Modulus of an Entangled Polybutadiene Melt from Simulation and Theory Oleksiy Byutner and Grant D. Smith* Department of Chemical and Fuels Engineering and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 122 S. Central Campus Drive Rm. 304, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah Received March 10, 2000 Revised Manuscript Received October 16, 2000 I. Introduction While accurate quantum chemistry based potentials,1 improved simulation algorithms, and faster computers have made accurate calculation of chain dynamics in unentangled polymer melts from molecular dynamics simulations possible,2-5 direct calculation of the viscoelastic properties of entangled polymers remains well beyond the capability of even the most powerful computers. Encouragingly, polymer melt dynamics of chains below the entanglement length can be represented reasonably well by the Rouse model6,7 while the molecular theory of viscoelasticity of Doi and Edwards7-11 based on the reptating chain model of de Gennes12 has proven successful in describing entangled melts. Until now, the structural, thermodynamic, and dynamic properties required by these models have been obtained exclusively from experiment. In this paper we utilize the results of molecular dynamics (MD simulations of an unentangled polybutadiene (PBD melt in the prediction of the linear viscoelastic response of an entangled melt and compare the calculated complex shear modulus with experiment. II. Molecular Dynamics Simulations We performed MD simulations of a PBD melt using the quantum chemistry based potential described elsewhere.5,13 An ensemble of 40 random copolymer chains each comprised of 30 units with a microstructure of 40%/ 50%/10% 1,4-cis/1,4-trans/1,2-vinyl monomers was generated.5 Each chain consisted of 114 backbone carbons (BD114, which is slightly below the entanglement molecular weight for this polymer.14 After equilibration, constant temperature and density sampling trajectories of 30, 60, and 130 ns were generated at 353, 323, and 293 K, respectively. An extensive comparison at 353 K with NMR spin-lattice and neutron spin-echo measurements performed on the same molecular weight material revealed that the MD simulations using the quantum chemistry force field accurately reproduce the local and chain dynamics of the unentangled PBD chains.5,15 III. Reptation Models To obtain the time-dependent shear stress modulus G(t and frequency-dependent complex shear modulus G*(ω for entangled melts, specifically BD9140 ( Da for which experimental data exist, we have employed three reptation models: (i the original reptation model of Doi and Edwards7-10 (DE; (ii a modified version of DE that accounts for fluctuations of the chain contour length11 (MDE; (iii an additional reptation model that accounts for contour-length fluctuations presented by Milner and McLeish.16 The principal relationships used in these models as well as crossover functions between dynamic regimes are outlined in Tables 1 and 2. These models require only a few parameters for calculation of G(t and G*(ω, specifically the Rouse time τr, the number of bonds between entanglements Ne, the plateau modulus GN, and a glassymodulusg,allofwhichcanbeobtaineddirectly or indirectly from simulations of unentangled melts, as demonstrated below. Rouse Time and the Monomer Friction Coefficient. The fundamental relaxation time in the reptation model is the Rouse time τr given by7 τr ζn R2 3π 2 k B T (1 where ζ is the monomer friction coefficient, N is the number of backbone bonds in the chain, R2 is the mean-square end-to-end distance, and T is the absolute temperature. The monomer friction coefficient is the only dynamic parameter in both the Rouse and reptation models; it expresses the effective medium viscous force acting on a monomer per unit velocity. Graessley17 found that ζ can be determined from the measured viscosity of low molecular weight polymers, yielding reasonable agreement with experiment for the diffusion coefficient of high molecular weight polymers. These results indicate that ζ is not strongly dependent upon the polymer chain length. Hence, we neglected any molecular weight dependence of ζ. For unentangled chains, the Rouse model yields the monomer friction coefficient as7 ζ(t 3π2 k B TτR N R k BT 2 D(TN (2 where D(T is the temperature-dependent self-diffusion coefficient determined from the mean-square center-ofmass displacement of the unentangled polymer chains. For BD114, τr and D(T were found to be in excellent agreement with experiment5 and yielded consistent values for the monomer friction coefficient. The Rouse time for a polymer of any molecular weight (entangled or not can be determined from the relationship /ma000439b CCC: $ American Chemical Society Published on Web 12/08/2000 τr τ R 0 ( N N 0 2 (3

2 Macromolecules, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2001 Notes 135 Table 1. Time-Dependent Shear Stress Moduli in Different Regimes for Different Reptation Modelsa a N,Ne,andnarethesameasineq6; τan -2 τrand τrisgivenbyeq1;gnandg aregivenbyeqs9and14,respectively. b References c References 11 and 21. d Reference 16. e The same for all three models, refs 21 and 24. f τ0 is given by eq 12. g A(p 1, if pen, and A(p 1/3, if p > n. where τr 0 and N0 are the Rouse time and number of backbone bonds for the unentangled reference system. Plateau Modulus and the Number of Bonds between Entanglements. The value of the plateau modulus GN for entangled polymeric systems is given as7 G Fk N BT M Fk BT e M 0 N e (4 where Me is molecular weight between entanglements, M0 M/N is the molecular weight per backbone bond, and F is the melt density. In the reptation model, topological constraints due to entanglements with neighboring chains are considered to form a tube of diameter a enclosing each chain. The quantity a2 also represents the mean-square distance between neighboring entanglements along the chain. Hence, the number of entanglements n of a chain of N monomers can be written as7,14 n R2 a 2 (5 and number of monomers between entanglements Ne as N e N R a2 2 (6 The tube diameter cannot be extracted directly from simulations of unentangled chains, but simple scaling arguments indicate that it should be proportional to the packing length P defined as14 P F R M 2 (7 where M is the polymer molecular weight. It has been shown empirically for a large variety of polymers that a KP where the proportionality coefficient(k was found to be nearly independent of temperature.14 Combining this expression for the tube diameter and eqs 4-7, one easily obtains the following relationships for the number of bonds between entanglements and for the plateau modulus:

3 136 Notes Macromolecules, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2001 Table 2. Complex Shear Stress Moduli in Different Regimes for Different Reptation Modelsa a All notations and crossover functions are the same as in Table 1. b References c References 11 and 21. d Reference 16. e The same for all models, refs 21 and 24. f R(ω [1+(ωτ02] -1/2, φ(ω tan -1 (ωτ0. N e ( KM 0 F 2 ( N R 2 3 (8 G k N BT K 2 (F R2 M 0 N 3 (9 wheretherequiredproperties(f, R2 /N(seebelowcan be obtained from simulations of unentangled chains.

4 Macromolecules, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2001 Notes 137 End-to-End Distance and Characteristic Ratio of the Polymer Chains. The mean-square end-to-end G distance for polymer melt chains of high molecular 8 Fk BT π M 0 8 π N eg N (14 weight can be calculated if the characteristic ratio C of the polymer is known using the relationship V. Results and Discussion The original DE,7-10 modified DE,11,21 and Milner- R 2 C Nb 2 (10 McLeish16 reptation theories utilize the same set of input parameters obtained from MD simulations. In whereb2isthemean-squarebondlengthinthepolymer Figure 1 we show the time-dependent shear modulus backbone. C can be estimated from simulations of G(t for BD9140 ( Da at 298 K. Predictions were relatively short chains by calculating the characteristic obtained using the properties obtained from simulations ratio as a function of 1/N and then linearly extrapolating of the BD114 melts, specifically the Rouse time, chain to 1/Nf0.18 The value of C 5.44 as obtained from dimensions, and density of the bulk polymer. As MD simulations of BD114 is in a good agreement with simulationswereperformedat293,323,and353k,the experiment (C This C yields a molecular required parameters for 298 K were obtained by interpolating corresponding values versus temperature. As weight between entanglements for PBD of Me 1634 Da (Ne 126 close to the reported experimental value one can see, the models yield similar results for G(t, of 1543 Da.14 with the variance becoming larger in the long-time regime where time approaches the disentanglement IV. High-Frequency Regime (Glass Transition time τd. It can be seen that the time-dependent shear The complex shear modulus G*(ω is defined as a stress modulus calculated utilizing the modified DE and Fourier transform of the time-dependent shear stress Milner-McLeish approaches relaxes faster than G(t modulus obtained by applying the original DE method. This G(t:7 difference is in agreement with Doi s considerations of tube length fluctuations.7,11 Tube (or contour length G*(ω iω 0 e -iωt G(t dt G (ω + ig (ω (11 fluctuations of a polymer chains have a significant effect on polymer dynamics by reducing τd. An effective The Rouse/reptation models do not account for the scaling of the longest relaxation time with respect to elastic reaction of the melt at high frequency. At high chain length is shown in Table 1 for all three models. frequencies(ω. 1/τR, it is observed experimentally that Although the contour length fluctuations become negligible for very high molecular weights, their effect is the loss modulus G (ω manifests a maximum that cannot be described by the reptation or Rouse not negligible for usual values of N (the order of approach Many models have been derived for for common commercial polymers. In the case of BD9140 calculations of this (the glass relaxation process (n 70, the ratio between τd calculated from the MDE We found the Davidson-Cole approach24 to be the most and DE models is about 0.77, while the same ratio for appropriate for the current treatment because it can be the Milner-McLeish and DE models is At short utilized in a form that requires no adjustable parameters when the characteristic time τ0 for this regime is thesameforallmodelsandyieldaslopeof-1/2inaccord times t τ0 contributions from GRouse(t are essentially taken to be21 withthetheory.7asonecansee,thisrousebehavioris b perturbed by the glass relaxation contribution Gglass(t, which starts to dominate at times smaller than τ0. We also calculated the components of the complex τ0 dyn ζ dyn π 2 k B T 3 C 2 N 2 τ R (12 frequency-dependent shear stress modulus G*(ω for BD9140 at 298 K, which is shown in Figure 2. Here we and the Davidson-Cole stretching exponent is taken as compare our predictions to the experimental data of 1/2. Importantly, the adequacy of this model was demonstrated for several polymers including PBD.21 We (Mw/Mn < 1.1 of the same molecular weight and with Colby et al.26 on reasonably monodispersed PBD chains have taken the dynamical segment size for local motions the microstructure of 35.5%/54.5%/10% 1,4-cis/1,4-trans/ bdyn to be the static statistical segment length for PBD 1,2-vinyl monomers. As can be seen, simulations of the of 8.05 Å. The loss modulus G glass(ω given in Table 2 unentangled melt yield the structural, thermodynamic, exhibits a maximum at frequency ωm 3/τ0. and dynamic properties required by the reptation model To estimate the magnitude of the glassy modulus G to yield good agreement with experiment for the linear from properties determined from simulations, we have viscoelastic properties of the higher molecular weight applied an extension to the Rouse theory that takes into polymer. account high-frequency response, introduced by Marvin.20,25 One of the remarkable results of the theory is The log-log plot of the real and imaginary components of G*(ω can be clearly divided onto three zones: that it attributes the location of the maximum of G (ω the terminal or flow zone from zero frequency to ω on frequency axis to the value of G by the following 1/τd(10-11 ps -1,thetransitionorplateauzonecovering relationship frequencies between the terminal peak and the minimum in the loss modulus G (ω, and high frequency or 24G glass transition zone starting at ω 1/τA (10-6 ps -1. 2(M In the terminal zone where disentanglement occurs, 3ωM ζ 0 /F 2 G (ω and G (ω are proportional to ω2 b 2 k and ω, respectively.allmodelsyieldtherightslopeinthisregimeas B T (13 shown in Figure 2, but the MDE model shows faster This expression yields a quite simple expression for G after term rearrangement and substituting eqs 12 and relaxation(occurring at higher frequencies than the DE or Milner-McLeish models; the latter models are in 4: better agreement with experimental data. In the transi-

5 138 Notes Macromolecules, Vol. 34, No. 1, 2001 vanish as frequency approaches 1/τ0. The glass transition strongly influences dynamic mechanical behavior for frequencies greater than 10-4 ps -1. The highfrequency response of PBD is not well represented by therousemodel,asshowninfigure2.thedavidson- Cole term of G*(ω gives rise to proper scaling of the storage and loss moduli. VI. Conclusions The main goal of the present work is to show a that it is possible to predict the linear viscoelastic behavior of an entangled polymer melt utilizing properties obtained entirely from MD simulations, which to the best knowledge of the authors has never been attempted. We have demonstrated a new methodology for extrapolation Figure 1. Time-dependent shear modulus of polybutadiene of properties of short unentangled polymer chains to the ( Da at 298 K calculated using the equations given in Table 1 for three reptation models with the N highly entangled regime based on extant theoretical 9140, Ne 126, reptation models and semiempirical relations. We have τr ps, GN 1.41 MPa, and G GPa. also demonstrated that MD simulations can be used for testing of models of polymer viscoelasticity by providing physically meaningful and accurate quantities needed for the parametrization of these models. The combination of simulation and theory allows for the accurate prediction of dynamic properties of polymer melts on time and length scales many orders of magnitude longer than are directly accessible to MD simulations. The quality of agreement obtained between simulation/theory and experiment is a consequence not only of the accurate prediction of structural, thermodynamic, and dynamic properties of the unentangled melt resulting from use of a validated, quantum chemistry based potential function but also of the validity of the viscoelastic models employed. As there is nothing specific in this approach to PBD, MD simulations of similar quality for unentangled melts of other polymers can be expected to yield accurate viscoelastic properties. Improvement in predicted properties at high frequency/ short time should be possible by direct calculation of the modulus in this regime from simulation, eliminating Figure 2. Computed complex frequency-dependent shear the need for the approximate relationships for the glass modulus of polybutadiene ( Da at 298 K compared to relaxation utilized here. Time-temperature superposition should allow us to extend prediction of linear dataofref26.thesameparametersasinfigure1wereused. (Straight lines are denoting slopes. viscoelastic properties from simulations to much lower tion zone the reptation contribution to the storage temperatures where time scales for the glass relaxation modulus G rept(ω leads to the plateau in G (ω, which behavior and monomer friction coefficient (chain diffusion are too long for direct determination from simula- is similar for all three models applied. The main difference between the models is manifested in the loss tion. modulus G (ω plot in this frequency region. The Rouse In the nearest future we will present a continuation contribution G Rouse(ω leads to a ω -1/2 scaling of G (ω of this work where the methodology of direct calculations of high-frequency (glassy modulus using the as shown for the original DE model. But the slope of -1/2 is much steeper than experimental data with the Green-Kubo method will be discussed. slope about -1/4, as shown in Figure 2. Such deviation from Rouse behavior was found not only for PBD but Acknowledgment. This research is funded in part also for a number of other polymers.16,20-22 Agreement by the University of Utah Center for the Simulation of with experiment is improved for the models that account Accidental Fires and Explosions (C-SAFE, funded by for contour length fluctuations. The fast-relaxing contourlength fluctuations or retraction part of G (ω, contribtional Laboratory, under Subcontract B the Department of Energy, Lawrence Livermore Nauting in this intermediate frequency range, gives rise to ω -1/4 scaling for the both MDE and Milner-McLeish References and Notes models.16 Figure 2 reveals that the Milner-McLeish approach gives a better representation of the G (ω in (1 Smith, G. D.; Borodin, O.; Pekny, M.; Annis, B.; Londono, D.; Jaffe, R. L. Spectrochim. Acta, Part A 1997, 53, the transition zone than the MDE model. (2 Smith, G. D.; Yoon, D. Y.; Zhu, W.; Ediger, M. D. Macromolecules 1994, 27, As was mentioned before, we have applied the same Davidson-Cole expressions for Gglass(t and G*glass(ω (3 Smith, G. D.; Paul, W.; Yoon, D. Y.; Zirkel, A.; Hendricks, for all models (Tables 1 and 2 in order to describe the J.;Richter,D.;Schober,H.J.Chem.Phys.1997,107,4751. behavior of the polymer at short times or in the highfrequency range. Thus, differences between models 80, (4 Paul, W.; Smith, G. D.; Yoon, D. Y.; Farago, B.; Rathgeber, S.; Zirkel, A.; Willner, L.; Richter, D. Phys. Rev. Lett. 1998, 2346.

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